California Case Summaries

Labor & Employment Law

Primary practice area

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Combs v. Netflix, Inc. — Ninth Circuit Sets Test for When a Sexual Harassment ‘Dispute Arises’ Under the EFAA, Holding Pre-2022 Internal Complaints Triggered the Clock

automatic / July 8, 2026

In a matter of first impression, the Ninth Circuit held that under the EFAA's timing provision, a "dispute arises" when an employee registers internal disagreement with an employer and the employer expressly or constructively opposes it — not when the employee later files a formal complaint — and that "claims accrue" under standard accrual principles; here both happened before March 3, 2022, so the EFAA did not apply and Netflix's arbitration agreement was enforceable.

4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Adelanto Elementary School District v. Krause — Employers Cannot Waive the Right to Seek a Workplace Violence Restraining Order for Employees

automatic / July 6, 2026

The Fourth District holds that an employer's statutory right to seek a workplace violence restraining order on behalf of its employees cannot be signed away in a separation agreement, and strikes as a First Amendment violation a provision barring an elected board member from discussing the restraining order at public meetings.

3rd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law

Phan v. Knight Sacramento SU Inc. — Car Dealership Arbitration Agreements Struck as Unconscionable Under Cook v. USC Standard

automatic / July 2, 2026

The Third District Court of Appeal affirms the trial court's refusal to compel arbitration of an auto dealership employee's wage and hour claims, finding the employer's adhesive arbitration agreements unconscionable under Cook v. University of Southern California (2024) due to high economic coercion and one-sided third-party beneficiary provisions.

1st District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Smith v. Superior Court — Court of Appeal Allows 440 Tesla Racial Discrimination Plaintiffs to Proceed in Joint Complaints

automatic / June 30, 2026

The First District grants a writ of mandate requiring Tesla to face five joint complaints from 440 Black factory workers, holding that permissive joinder under CCP § 378 is proper where all plaintiffs allege injury from the same factory-wide pattern of racial discrimination — and that manageability concerns cannot justify ordering mass individual re-filings.

1st District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Betanco v. Living Spaces Furniture — Retail Furniture Delivery Driver Is a Transportation Worker Exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act

automatic / June 25, 2026

A furniture delivery driver who never crosses state lines but delivers goods that arrived in California from out of state is a "transportation worker" exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, the First District Court of Appeal holds, affirming the driver's right to pursue his Labor Code and PAGA claims in court.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Jung v. Acosta — Union Judicial Panel Proceedings Are “Official Proceedings” Protected by California’s Anti-SLAPP Statute

automatic / June 25, 2026

Internal union disciplinary proceedings authorized by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act are "official proceedings authorized by law" under California's anti-SLAPP statute, the Second District holds, affirming dismissal of claims arising from participation in those proceedings.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law

Brown v. Alaska Airlines — Airline’s Firing of Flight Attendants Over Equality Act Posts Must Go to Jury as Religious Discrimination

automatic / June 24, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reverses summary judgment for Alaska Airlines and the AFA flight attendants' union, holding that two Christian flight attendants fired after posting about the Equality Act raised genuine disputes of material fact on Title VII religious discrimination, and that the Railway Labor Act does not preempt their Oregon and Washington state anti-discrimination claims against the union.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Cocom v. ABM Aviation — Ninth Circuit Reverses Unconscionability Finding, Orders Enforcement of Employment Arbitration Agreement

automatic / June 23, 2026

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's refusal to enforce a pre-dispute employment arbitration agreement, holding that the agreement's scope was limited to employment-related claims under ejusdem generis, distinguishing Cook v. USC's broader unconscionability holding.

1st District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law

City and County of San Francisco v. PERB — San Francisco Charter Excludes City Attorneys’ At-Will Status from Binding Interest Arbitration

automatic / June 22, 2026

San Francisco's First Appellate District reversed a PERB order requiring the City to submit its attorneys' at-will status to binding interest arbitration, holding that the San Francisco Charter's civil service provisions place that question outside the scope of the MMBA's interest arbitration process.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law

Union Gospel Mission of Yakima Washington v. Brown — Ninth Circuit to Reconsider En Banc Whether Religious Employers Can Require Staff to Share Their Faith

automatic / June 18, 2026

The full Ninth Circuit has agreed to rehear en banc a case about whether states can force religious nonprofits to hire employees who don't share their faith, vacating a panel opinion that had protected a Christian shelter's faith-based hiring practices.

2nd District Court of Appeal, Administrative Law, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Div. of Occupational Safety & Health v. Uber Technologies, Inc. — Court of Appeal Upholds Cal/OSHA’s Power to Subpoena Uber Over Gig Worker’s On-the-Job Death

automatic / June 18, 2026

California's Second Appellate District held that Cal/OSHA can compel Uber to produce records about a deceased Uber Eats driver's employment status even without first proving the driver was an employee, but remanded for narrowing of overbroad document requests.

4th District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Taduran v. Glidewell Dental — Court Affirms Per-Employee Reduction Method for PAGA Penalties and Negative Lodestar Multiplier on Attorney Fees

automatic / June 17, 2026

The Fourth District affirmed a PAGA judgment in which the trial court reduced penalties on a per-employee (not per-pay-period) basis and applied a 0.70 downward multiplier to the attorney fee lodestar, holding that neither the PAGA statute nor applicable precedent limits the court's discretion on either point.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law

American Federation of Government Employees v. Trump — Ninth Circuit Vacates Injunction Against Executive Order Stripping Federal Agency Unions of Collective Bargaining Rights

automatic / June 17, 2026

The Ninth Circuit vacated a district court injunction that had blocked President Trump's Executive Order 14,251 — which stripped roughly 800,000 federal employees across multiple agencies of collective bargaining rights on national security grounds — holding that the unions failed to show a likelihood of success on their First Amendment retaliation claim.

1st District Court of Appeal, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Doss v. Tesla — Factory Yard Hostlers Who Move Interstate Trailers Are Exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act

automatic / June 11, 2026

Tesla's yard hostlers — who move 53-foot interstate trailers within factory grounds to facilitate unloading — are 'transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce' exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act, the First District held, because their work is a necessary step in completing an interstate delivery.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Orr v. United States District Court (C.D. Cal.) — Ninth Circuit Holds Courts Must Decide FAA vs. State Law Before Compelling Arbitration

automatic / June 9, 2026

The Ninth Circuit grants a UPS delivery driver a writ of mandamus requiring the district court to first determine whether the FAA or California Arbitration Act governs her employment agreement before compelling arbitration — a threshold question courts cannot punt to arbitrators.

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